The last Templar : the tragedy of Jacques de Molay, last grand master of the Temple by Alain Demurger(
Book
)13
editions published
between
2004
and
2009
in
English
and held by
220 WorldCat member
libraries
worldwide
"An investigation into the decline and fall of the mighty Knights Templar and their last Grand Master by one of France's greatest
medieval scholars." "Between 1307 and 1310 King Philip the Fair of France and Pope Clement V brought to trial one of the most
powerful institutions of the medieval world: the crusading Order of the Knights of the Temple. Jacques de Molay was then its
Grand Master. Alain Demurger tells the history of Molay's life as a crusader and of the dramatic years of his leadership."
"With the fall of Acre in 1291 the crusaders lost their last stronghold in Palestine and the Order of the Temple much of its
reason for being. Jacques de Molay, elected Grand Master the following year, sought to revive its crusading spirit. But an
alliance with the Mongols went wrong, and when their garrison on the Syrian island of Ruad fell to the Mamluks the Templars
were discredited. The scene was set for dissolution. Molay was arrested in France in 1307; three years later fifty-four knights
were burnt at the stake in Paris; and in 1312 the pope, urged by the king, suppressed the Order through all of Europe." "The
Temple had been found guilty of heresy, of scandalous rituals in the initiation of new members. The Inquisitor of France,
King Philip's chaplain, used torture to get the confessions and the judgement of history has been to dismiss them. Alain Demurger
reopens the case. He describes the complex events surrounding the arrests and trials, re-examines the transcripts of the inquisitions,
and looks closely at the circumstances of Molay's own devastating confession. He ends his account of one of the most gruesome
episodes of European history with a measured verdict."--Jacket